Picture of poop

Like the title? :)

All went amazingly well at Hopkins today with Tucker. In fact, I'm sitting at my dining room table at 4 pm this afternoon as he works on homework and tells his brother what to do. Today was yet another reminder of the power of prayer.

After dropping Judah off at school, I realized I had no idea where to take Tucker once down at Hopkins. Because the appointment was made recently, we had not yet received any confirmation or information letter in the mail. We drove back home so I could scramble to find any information at all. Thankfully, I still had a brochure the GI nurse gave to me at our initial office visit which told us where to go.

LA and I were so pleased with how brave Tucker was. Judah told Tucker all about what to expect from a trip to the OR as he is rather familiar with the process at this point in his life (one advantage to having a kid with chronic medical issues).

I think the hardest thing for Tucker was not being allowed to eat. He wasn't thrilled about and cried while LA put on his hospital gown, which I refer to his "Jedi Knight-gown" because I think my buddies look like little Luke Skywalker's in it. Unfortunately, today the pre-op. only had a hospital 'shirt', so Tucker got to keep his jeans on...not quite as cute.

I was super proud of Tucker as we walked back through the ever crowded and industrial hallways of Hopkins to his OR room. He kept repeating that he didn't want to do this as I reminded him he didn't have to want to do; he just had to do it. I reminded him that I wouldn't allow anyone to do anything to him that would harm him and that while he may not like going through this, it was ultimately to find out what has been making his tummy hurt.

At my sons' age, it does no good to try to keep reality from them. They are much better served by knowing ahead of time what they're going to experience....not much ahead of time, mind you. But, we definitely do not want to spring any unfamiliar and potentially scary experience on them and hope they will forget and forgive us later for it. I believe this has been a bit of the wisdom God's granted to us as we've prayed so many times for Judah and all our kids' medical issues. I felt a sense of confirmation of that as one of the post-op. nurses passed on commendation from the pre-op. nurses and OR docs for how we "handled" our son before the surgery and during the "take down". :)

A nice "trick" we've picked up along the way (and one you may want to keep in mind for yourself or others you may come across who will have to go under for surgery or a procedure) is to ask for chapstick to coat the inside of the gas mask. It helps a bit with the yucky smell of the anesthesia. Tucker picked bubble gum flavored chapstick, and boy did he paint the inside of that mask something fierce. We allowed him to hold the mask at first as the anesthesiologist told knock knock jokes (which were actually kind of funny). The anesth. dr. was very patient and well experienced, and did a great job keeping Tucker calm while the gas took effect. Tucker didn't cry at all for this part, and went into a nice, deep sleep rather quickly.

As Tucker faded, I was sure to tell him that I would be there when he woke up and that Jesus would be with him the entire time he was in the OR. I was very comforted and encouraged to hear the anesthesiologist say, "He's in this room with us all the time." Not something I've come to expect from medical staff, but super grateful nonetheless.

LA and I grabbed a snack in the cafeteria and shortly after we returned to the waiting room, Tucker was all done.

He came out of anesthesia really fast and really well. I was waiting for the "shoe to drop", but it didn't and hasn't... no throwing up, no nausea. He ate like a champ and has been pleasant, coherent. He's done so well.

We should have results from the bloodwork and biopsies by next week. We'll let you know, but for now, there was nothing that looked terribly alarming to the physician who performed the tests. The doctor did make copies of the pictures he took and gave them to us which included a picture of my son's poop....lovely, huh? I'm thinking he'll probably love that for show and tell. Kathleen?